Creepy robot hand detaches from wrist and runs off to collect items
Engineers have developed a removable robotic hand that can crawl into hard-to-reach places and retrieve objects. The spider-like device can attach multiple fingers and is reversible, allowing it to grasp objects in both directions and manipulate it as if it had two functional palms. In a research paper published in the journal Nature Communications on […]
Californians are using far less water than their suppliers estimate, but what does this mean for the state?
California used less water than officials estimated between 2000 and 2020, according to a new report. While the findings call into question the accuracy of long-term water demand forecasts and could have a knock-on effect on costs borne by consumers, the news that overall water demand is lower than predicted is positive for the state […]
Scientists may be close to a “fundamental breakthrough in cosmology and particle physics” – if dark matter and “ghost particles” can interact
Two of the most mysterious particles in the universe may be colliding invisibly throughout the universe. This discovery could solve one of the biggest remaining problems with the Standard Model of cosmology. These two elusive building blocks, dark matter and neutrinos (or “ghost particles”), are ubiquitous in the universe but remain poorly understood. In a […]
Lab mice that ‘touch grass’ have less anxiety – highlighting a big problem in rodent research
Online advice to “touch grass” to calm your emotional state may be backed up by science, at least in lab mice. A recent study found that mice that live outdoors are less anxious than mice that spend their days in secure shoebox-sized cages. And that could ultimately highlight fundamental flaws in laboratory research, including research […]
2,400-year-old temple of Hercules and elite tombs discovered outside ancient Roman walls
Two elite tombs from the Roman Republic, dating back more than 2,400 years, have been unearthed near Via Pietralata in the northeast of modern-day Rome. The tombs in the burial chamber were together inside a funerary complex and near what may have been a temple to the Greek demigod Hercules, who was a popular symbol […]
Coyote makes emergency landing on Alcatraz Island after unprecedentedly dangerous swim
Alcatraz prisoners once risked the treacherous waters of San Francisco Bay to escape from the island’s maximum security prison. Now, for the first time, a clever coyote has been photographed swimming the other way, all the way to Alcatraz Island. Video posted on social media shows a coyote (Canis latrans) paddling to the southern tip […]
Stunning time-lapse video shot using ‘artificial solar eclipses’ shows three massive eruptions of the sun
The European Space Agency (ESA) has released stunning time-lapse footage of three solar explosions exploding from the sun into space during an “artificial solar eclipse.” Unique footage captured by the newly operational Proba 3 mission could help scientists solve one of the biggest mysteries surrounding our home planet, researchers say. The Proba-3 mission consists of […]
A giant freshwater reservoir discovered off the East Coast is 20,000 years old and could be large enough to supply New York City for 800 years.
A huge reservoir of “secret” freshwater off the East Coast could supply a city the size of New York City for 800 years and may have formed during the last Ice Age, when the region was covered in glaciers, researchers say. Preliminary analysis suggests that the reservoir, which lies beneath the ocean floor and appears […]
The 2.6 million-year-old jaw of the extinct ‘Nutcracker Man’ is discovered in an unexpected location
Fragments of a 2.6-million-year-old jaw fossil found in northeastern Ethiopia are changing the picture of early human evolution in Africa. The jaws of bipedal hominid relatives of extinct humans indicate that the species traveled far north into areas where other hominids were already present. This ancient jaw belongs to the genus Paranthropus and was discovered […]
The world’s oldest known rock art, dating from before modern humans invaded Europe, was discovered in a cave in Indonesia.
Scientists have identified the world’s oldest known rock art. This is a hand-painted stencil created in Indonesia that is at least 67,800 years old. The work, located in a cave on the southeastern island of Sulawesi, is also the earliest archaeological evidence of modern humans (Homo sapiens) living on the islands between the Asian and […]